I bought an organic turkey and cooked in oven at 350 on the convection setting. 18 lb bird took 3 hours....first two hours I covered the breast with butter infused cheesecloth. The bird sat for an hour before we ate loosely covered with foil. The meat was OK, but the skin was tough and inedible like rubber! Any ideas what happened? Thx.

Cook bird uncovered in 325f oven for recommended time. Use an instant read thermometer to test.
I cook breast side down for the first half of roasting time. Then turn breast back up to finish.
The skin is always crispy and tasty. What did you season the bird with before roasting? A highly seasoned bird is highly recommended.

i would like to hear from someone who has cooked turkey using convection and/or cheesecloth? Or anyone who has had this tough skin problem.

Did you remove the cheesecloth during the cooking time so the skin could get crisp? Did you baste it at all? If not, there lies your problem, IMO. BTW, you may find someone that has used the convection feature of their oven, but probably not so much the cheesecloth. Oh, how many turkeys have you cooked before? Just to give us some background as to your experience.

Welcome to DC.

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i have cooked 44 thanksgiving turkeys...never had this problem before but I never used pure convection setting on the oven, I have used convection bake setting before. I never did the butter/cheesecloth thing, I did take off for last hour of cooking and I did not baste....because people who have convection say that you don't need to baste...

i have cooked 44 thanksgiving turkeys...never had this problem before but I never used pure convection setting on the oven, I have used convection bake setting before. I never did the butter/cheesecloth thing, I did take off for last hour of cooking and I did not baste....because people who have convection say that you don't need to baste...

I assume you didn't have this problem with the previous 43 turkeys. The cheesecloth is the only thing that's new...

Experts in the use of a convection oven are of the opinion that the convection function is most effective in baking.

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